While the formulation of powdered washing and cleaning agents containing bleaching agent nowadays no longer presents difficulties, the formulation of stable liquid washing and cleaning agents containing bleaching agent still represents a problem. Because bleaching agent is usually absent from liquid washing and cleaning agents, those stains which normally are removed in particular because of the bleaching agent that is contained are accordingly often removed only to an insufficient extent. A similar problem also exists for bleaching-agent-free color washing agents, in which the bleaching agent is omitted in order to reduce stress on the dyes in the textile and to prevent them from bleaching out. A complicating factor when bleaching agent is absent is that instead of removing the so-called “bleachable” stains that normally are removed at least in part by the peroxygen-based bleaching agent, the washing operation often in fact results, to the contrary, in an intensification of the stain and/or in a deterioration in its ability to be removed; this is probably attributable not least to initiated chemical reactions that can consist, for example, in the polymerization of specific dyes contained in the stains.
Such problems occur in particular with stains that contain polymerizable substances. The polymerizable substances are principally polyphenolic dyes, preferably flavonoids, in particular from the class of anthocyanidins or anthocyans. The stains can have been caused in particular by food products or beverages that contain corresponding dyes. The stains can in particular be spots caused by fruits or vegetables, or also red-wine spots, which contain in particular polyphenolic dyes, principally those from the class of the anthocyanidins or anthocyans.
International patent application WO 2011/023716 A1 discloses the use of gallic acid esters, such as propyl gallate, in washing and cleaning agents for improved removal of stains that contain polymerizable substances.
Gallic acid esters of polyvalent alcohols, and the use thereof as inhibitors for plasminogen activator 1 (PAI-1), are known from International patent application WO 2008/131047.
It has been found, surprisingly, that as a result of the use of specific oligohydroxybenzoic acid derivatives that comprise more than one oligohydroxybenzoic acid unit, the washing or cleaning performance of the washing or cleaning agent can be appreciably improved in particular in terms of bleachable stains.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.